Rash of prank calls unnerve female students

Several female students may be thinking twice before they pick up their campus phone the next time. Prank telephone calls have increased on campus this year, according to TUPD.

Between September 2003 and February 2004, the Tufts University Police Department received 17 reports of annoying telephone calls, an increase from last year's 11 over the same time period. TUPD currently has no leads on any suspect.

Of the 17 total reports, 14 of the calls were placed from unknown male callers to female students. Only one male student reported an annoying phone call, which was placed by another male. Of the 14 reports of females receiving unwanted phone calls from unknown males, the callers pretended to know the victims eight times, according to TUPD Lieutenant Sonya Rodrigues.

Many of the calls were reported in January, though the majority of the 17 incidents were reported last October, according to TUPD records. "There was a rash of [prank calls] when we first came back from semester break," TUPD Captain Mark Keith said.

Several of the calls were from males who claimed to be named Brian.

Freshman Katya Shevchuk said the person who called her claimed to be named Brian and said he knew her "from class." He then changed his story and said he was from Boston College and met Shevchuk's roommate at a club. "The stories kept changing [and] he gave different names to different people," Shevchuk said.

Freshman Jamie Swanson, who also received a call, said "he kind of gets the classes and [your] name out of you." Swanson said the caller did not identify his motive. "[It's] not anything sexual, he didn't ask to meet up or anything. It doesn't worry me, it's just kind of distracting," she said. "I guess he just gets a kick out of talking to random people."

A female freshman, who received three calls, said at first the caller did not identify himself. "He told me that I 'caught his eye' in class," she said. "I was really confused and fed him all this information, and he confirmed it. He didn't know my name." The caller eventually identified himself as Brian.

The freshman female requested to remain anonymous to prevent future prank phone calls.

All but two of the reported calls were sexual in nature, and callers used different schemes in placing their prank calls. "Some of the callers indicated they were from some magazine, doing a questionnaire," Keith said. Out of the 15 sexually-natured reported calls, five involved a caller who claimed to be conducting a survey for a psychology firm or Cosmopolitan magazine.

While the calls proved an annoyance to some students on campus -- especially females -- there were "no actual threats," Rodrigues said. "It was pretty much harassment. [The calls] were mostly sexual in nature," said Rodrigues.

TUPD could potentially take legal action against a perpetrator, but not until after the first offense. If TUPD identifies a suspect, the Dean of Students Office also can punish a student caught placing harassing phone calls. If a Tufts student is found to be responsible, the punishment will depend on the nature of what was said during the call, Judicial Affairs Officer Veronica Carter said.

Rodrigues suggested that students might avoid such harassment by making "a very generic [voicemail] greeting -- one that doesn't really tell whether females live in that room or not."

In order for a person to be charged with criminal harassment under Massachusetts State Law, there must be "a knowing pattern of conduct or series of acts over a period of time directed at a specific person, which seriously alarms that person and would cause a reasonable person to suffer substantial emotional distress," according to M.G.L. Chapter 265, Section 43A.

The reported incidents at Tufts do not fit into that category yet, according to Rodrigues. "Three or more calls is what [the department] looks for in order for a criminal complaint to be filed," she said..

According to Massachusetts law, a person convicted of criminal harassment may be punished by up to 2.5 years in prison, a fine of $1,000, or both.